


Liar, Liar

by carrionkings



Series: Parallels [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4457207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrionkings/pseuds/carrionkings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arali and Raya had no idea what they would encounter when the Keeper sent them to investigate the nearby shemlen gathering. Information? Certainly. An assassination attempt? A possibility. The rise of an ancient Tevinter magister was certainly not on the table</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liar, Liar

When the Keeper had hand picked both Arali and his elder brother Raya to observe the shemlen gathering, Rali hadn’t been able to contain his excitement. To think that they were being sent on such an important task! The mission itself was almost as thrilling as the prospect of learning something new. Raya was more subdued, speaking even less than usual as they prepared to leave. 

“They’re calling it The Conclave! They even pronounce it like it’s got captial letters. _The Conclave._ ” Rali said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He was less patient and meticulous than Raya, and had spent the last half an hour following his brother around as he checked and rechecked their equipment. 

“So I hear.” Raya replied, not looking up from the dagger he was sharpening.

“Why are you upset? You sound upset.” Rali stopped fidgeting, but didn't sit down.

The hunter didn’t reply right away, testing the balance of the knife he held by balancing it on his palm. “I don’t like having so small a scouting party.” he said at length. 

“Mythal, but you worry overmuch. It’ll be fine!” Rali readjusted the staff on his back and brushed his auburn hair out of his eyes. “We just won’t get caught, is all.” 

Raya shrugged, but said nothing more. He stood and with a flick of his wrist, slipped the dagger he’d been inspecting into a hidden sheath on his forearm. Shouldering his ironbark bow, he gestured for them to head out. Rali gave him a playful shove. 

“Don’t sulk. Your face will get stuck like that, and then where will you be?”

“I always look like this. It must already be stuck.” 

“Ahh, no, you smile sometimes! See? There it is.”

~

There were more people heading to the Conclave than Rali had ever seen in his life. The sounds, smells, and colors were overwhelming - to think that humans lived with such chaos every day! He and Raya kept their hoods up and heads down to conceal their elven features. Arali stared about in amazement, whispering constant observations and questions. He was just about to ask Raya if he thought if shemlen talked to their horses like elves did to their halla when he noticed the deep blue and silverite armor of the Grey Wardens.

“What are Wardens doing here? And they’re all mages! Isn’t that strange?” he asked, almost forgetting to keep his voice down. 

Raya didn’t answer, but his intense focus and the hand that crept to his dagger said much. He nudged Rali off to the side and into the shade of an outcropping of rock. “There is a truce between mage and Templar, not Wardens. Something is amiss. Stay here and I will investigate.”

“What?” Rali’s voice rose half an octave as fear surged through him. The very thought of being alone in a crowd of potentially hostile strangers was unbearable. “You can’t just leave me here! I’m going with you!” 

Raya looked about to argue the point, but relented when he saw the panic clouding Rali’s face. “Follow my lead, then. And please – no more questions for now.” 

Rali swallowed the question he’d been about to ask and nodded, pulling his hood down farther over his face.

~

“They grabbed the Divine! Is that allowed? Are you _allowed_ to just pick up the Divine?”

“Eyes forward!” Raya snapped, giving Rali a shove to get him moving. “If the Wardens have taken that woman hostage, this whole gathering was a trap. We’re leaving!”

Arali stopped dead in his tracks despite the gathering clamor of battle and the flurry of motion on all sides. “We can’t just leave!” he protested, anger and disbelief vying for first place in his voice. “They just... just... made off with the Divine! Imagine if someone came in and took the Keeper away! We have to do something, Raya!”

Raya grabbed his arm and hauled him forward a few more steps, exasperation and what might have been fear bleeding through his calm veneer. “What do you propose we do? We can’t fight a legion of mages!” 

“We can’t just pretend we didn’t see it, either!” Rali wrenched his arm from Raya’s grasp. “If you won’t help me, I’ll go myself!” 

He turned and ran back to the tower where the Wardens had dragged Divine Justinia. Raya shouted something after him, but his words were lost in the din.

Skirting a knot of Templars and the horrific, rail thin creature they’d surrounded, Arali almost smacked right into the oaken doors of the tower. His hands shook as he struggled with the iron rings, vaguely aware of the strange lack of any other person in the area. It was as if an invisible wall had been erected a hundred paces from the tower, keeping intruders out. He cursed, pushed on the door again, trying to ignore the little voice that told him that he was running to his death, that the Divine was already dead, that there was nothing he could do. 

“But I can try.” he whispered. He only wished Raya were here with him. 

“Pull, don’t push.” Strong hands grabbed the iron handles of the door and hauled them open. Rali gaped, staring up into Raya’s face. “We came here together, and that’s how we’ll leave.” 

Anything else they might have said was drowned out in the roar of a fireball launched from the staff of the nearest Warden. Raya ducked and threw a dagger at the mage, catching her in the throat. She gave a little choking scream and toppled over, her staff clattering on the flagstones. Another Warden leaped from the shadows, longsword held high for a killing blow. Without thinking, Rali drew a quick semicircle with his left hand, snapping his fingers at the peak of the motion. A bolt of lightning streaked through the open door and rendered the man a blackened corpse before he even hit the ground. The stench of scorched flesh and hair made his Rali’s stomach turn and he swallowed hard. 

He looked for Raya, who had just retrieved his knife. The older man unshouldered his bow and nocked an arrow to it, ears pricked for any sign of reinforcements. “I’ll try to keep them off you as you cast. Creators willing, we’ll make it through this without bringing down another Exalted March on our heads.” He loped away without a backwards glance, his hood falling back to reveal rusty red hair. 

“Creators willing,” Rali agreed, but his voice was faint. Two people lay dead, but Raya was still as poised as an eagle surveying its territory. Then again, he was a hunter – one of the best in the clan. Death was part of his daily routine and he was well used to the hard rules of the forest. Whispered rumors of his ruthless efficiency when dealing with intruders had reached Rali’s ears, but he hadn’t believed them.

Until now. 

His vision blurred and he swiped the back of his hand over his eyes, attempting to brush his fear and nausea away along with his tears. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before striding off after his brother, a barrier spell at his fingertips and a prayer to Mythal on his lips. 

He couldn’t falter now. 

~

Rali stopped three quarters of the way up a winding staircase, panting with exhaustion. He felt close to collapse, even with the jittery surge of adrenaline and lyrium in his veins. Raya leaned on the wall several stairs above him, breathing heavily and clutching at a stitch in his side. 

They’d taken the few Wardens at the base of the tower by surprise and had dispatched them with little difficulty. There had been a scare when several Wardens proved to be good shots with a crossbow, however. Rali had been preoccupied with a lightning spell and hadn’t erected a barrier right away. A bolt nicked his brow before Raya leaped in front of him, shielding him as he struggled to cast the protective charm. Raya's daggers flashed as he redirected several bolts to lodge harmlessly in the floor.

‘Guard up, always,’ he’d said. 

“Almost there.” Raya said, interrupting Rali’s thoughts. He sounded exhausted, his normally calm voice strained. “There will be at least three others with the Divine.”

Rali nodded dumbly, trying to gather his energy for one final push. He doubted he even had the strength to finish climbing the stairs, much less face another battle. “I guess we better keep going,” he said, starting back up the stairs again. He’d followed the curve of the stair for at least twenty paces before he realized he was alone. Alarmed, he turned and ran back, almost slipping on his own bloody footprints. 

"Raya! Are you hurt?"

"Just tired."

"Why are you bleeding, then? Your hands are red!"

"Very little of this is mine, I assure you.”

"Then let’s go! Let’s finish this and go home." There was a pleading note in Rali’s voice. "You said it yourself – we don’t have that much farther to go. Don’t make me do this by myself.”

Raya reached out and pulled Rali close, touching their foreheads together. Rali caught the unmistakable scent of fresh blood. “You are the First of our clan and first in my heart. I need only a moment to catch my breath, and I will follow.” He let go, but didn’t move away from the wall.

"Promise? You sound like you’re saying goodbye," Rali’s eyes welled up with tears again, but he didn’t let them fall. 

"Would I lie to you?" The clatter of armored boots on the stairs far below made Raya give Rali a gentle push in the right direction. "Go. I will guarantee that the way down is clear."

"Okay." The affirmation was grudging – a sulky child denied a trifle. A smile flitted across Raya’s sharp features and Arali turned away.

Raya watched him ascend, praying that he could keep his tremors at bay until Rali was out of sight. The crossbow bolt in his side shifted and he stifled a cry, sliding down the wall to sit on the hard gray stone. A lucky shot had caught him in the side just below the ribcage, having punched through Rali’s incomplete barrier. He’d been able to bear the pain at first, but the weakness in his limbs had become too much to ignore. He pulled his hand away from the wound and looked at the blood slick shaft. To pull it out would prove fatal in a matter of minutes, and to leave it in only bought him time.

 _Time enough to clear an escape route?_ he wondered. Likely they’d both die here, caught in the same snare that had so entangled the Divine and her Conclave. Even if they did manage to secure the Divine, they’d probably both be executed on sight, just for what they were. He shoved this thought away and levered himself to his feet, gritting his teeth as the movement drove the bolt deeper into his flank.

"What’s going on here?" Rali’s voice echoed down from the uppermost chamber of the tower as a solid rank of Templar soldiers rushed up the stairs, swords and plate mail gleaming. 

Raya raised his daggers to the guard position, knowing he’d have the advantage in speed, but little else. The Templars were only four steps below him when he heard Rali scream. Forgetting his training, his pain, and the armored warriors in front of him, he turned and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He’d only managed to make it another half dozen paces when a brilliant light, green like the forest in summer, blinded everyone who saw it. With the light came a roar, suffocating heat, and a choking, crushing pressure. 

Then it was gone, spiraling up into the sky with terrible force, taking Raya and all the surviving members of the Conclave with it.

**Author's Note:**

> i have two inquisitors thus far: quiet, practical Raya and the ever-curious, empathetic Arali. i kept switching back and forth between playthroughs to see what happened, since they're essentially polar opposites. i somehow hit upon the thought that they could be related, though ingame, one cannot have both at the same time. there is only one Inquisitor, after all. 
> 
> this series is a collection of scenarios, each with one of the siblings as the inquisitor. hoping to follow a coherent timeline, but it may deviate


End file.
